Facebook 'must delete faces'

A GERMAN data protection official has called for Facebook to delete photographs of people's faces stored without their explicit consent.

APAugust 16, 20126:08am

11/05/2012 WIRE: FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2011 file photo, a magnifying glass is posed over a monitor displaying a Facebook page in Munich. Taking a company public isn't as simple as collecting Facebook friends. Even if the company is Facebook. (AP Photo/dapd, Joerg Koch) Pic. ApSource:AP

A GERMAN data protection official has called for Facebook to delete photos of user's faces stored without their consent, saying they breach European privacy rules.

Johannes Caspar, head of the Hamburg office for data protection, called on Facebook to delete biometric profiles stored it its databases.

Mr Caspar, said talks with Facebook to bring its business practices in line with German and European Union privacy rules had failed.

Mr Caspar said in a statement that he is now re-opening a stalled probe of the Menlo Park, California-based company "in order to find a legally sound solution with regard to the use of biometric data."

Mr Caspar is highly critical of Facebook's photo tagging feature, which asks users to attach the names of people in pictures they have uploaded.

Facebook then uses the unique facial characteristics in each picture to automatically identify the same person in other photographs on its site. Users can opt out of the service, but Mr Caspar wants them to have to opt in.

"Facebook will be obliged to delete this data unless it obtains approval by all concerned users," he said, adding that "due to the immense potential of misuses of biometric data the explicit consent is a legal requirement for the collecting and processing of biometric data."